In the Highest Tower
by listentothesewords
Summary: Prince Charming EPOV. Edward is surprised by Alice & a string of visions which lead him to the deadliest creature... a girl. He realizes the hurt in her life & how he must save her. Not as good as the original, but hopefully close. Rated T for safety. RR!
1. Chapter 1

**In the Highest Tower**

**This is the companion of Prince Charming, which you in my profile.**

Disclaimer: Must we all say this?

I do not own it

I will not own it

I have not owned it.

This is that story from Edward's POV, but only parts, seeing he's not in the entire story. It starts around the middle of October, before the Halloween of PC.

Chapter One

Alice was acting strange today. I had tried repeatedly to enter her thoughts, but it was no use. She kept blocking me. However, everyone else was not as wary.

Jasper was pondering what his Alice could be doing, simply flitting around the house, happy as an elf. He enjoyed her happy, but he wished she would spend more time with him, and not doing dastardly deeds.

Emmett was in usual shallow thought; he was deciding where to schedule his usual Halloween "massacre" this year. We didn't actually kill anyone; he just liked watching imbecilic humans dress up "stupidly" and go around for something as unimportant as sweets. He was deciding between London and Moscow now, as international Halloweens were supposedly better.

Rosalie thoughts were horrible to channel into, but awfully funny. Alice, in her exuberance, had accidentally wrecked some of her favorite clothes, and she was thinking of ways to get revenge, or just a new wardrobe. It was getting quite graphic, but I knew as soon and she saw a mirror, she would forget it all.

Carlisle and Esme were hunting today, they hadn't been able to in a while, and they were overdue. I wondered what Carlisle would think of Alice and all her glory.

Emmett's thoughts broke me from my trance. His thoughts now were revolving around a singular place, Phoenix, Arizona. Why would he want there? It was sunny; we wouldn't be able to leave the house. We DID have a house there, one of our random holdings; we had a house just about everywhere. But why Phoenix?

"Emmett, why?"

"Oh, what?" Emmett looked up surprised, and then realized what I was questioning. "I just thought, for a change in the scene."

"You are a complete idiot. We wouldn't be able to leave the house!"

"Yes we would!!" Alice bounced down the stairs to interrupt the conversation.

I took this opportunity to interrogate her thoughts. She had had a vision of us in Phoenix earlier, and she was just waiting for Emmett to come up with it on his own. But why the excitement?

Rosalie's eyebrows lifted, and she looked at Alice with an expression of sheer confusion and suspicion, "Alice, why are we going to Phoenix?"

"For Halloween, silly!" Alice kept bouncing with joy until Jasper carefully took her down into his lap to cool her down.

"And what aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing!" I hated it when she did that. Blocked her thoughts.

"Jasper, can you come with me?" Why did she even ask, Jasper would do anything for her, he HAD given the greatest sacrifice of human blood for her. "NOBODY disturb us."

Jasper's face instantly lit up and his thoughts were scandalous.

Alice acknowledged this. "Sorry Jazz, not now, maybe later. This is _other_ business."

Jasper's face dropped, and his thoughts mirrored those of complete disappointment. I heard an internal laugh as Emmett watched on at Jasper's being denied. Alice was being less-guarded, and I started to see what she was planning. I was getting bits and pieces of a vision, and thoughts to go along with.

The vision was of a girl with mahogany brown hair falling to the top of her back, and me. We were running through a park, and I was laughing. I hadn't truly laughed like this for a long time.

_Edward, are you seeing this?_

I looked up at the ceiling. Alice and I were playing our usual game.

_She's in Phoenix, Edward. We need to go. I'm going to have Jasper get us some I.D.'s and tickets. We can go for a little bit. Okay?_

I shrugged my shoulders as if to scratch my back, a movement and reflex completely unnecessary for me, but to Alice it indicated my agreement.

Jasper, who all this while had started to get annoyed at Alice's silence and her differing intentions, had formulated a plan in his head. He was going to "seduce" Alice and bring her upstairs, using his awfully skillful gift.

_Jasper's going to try to mess up my emotions and seduce me again, isn't he?_

Another glance to the ceiling.

"Awh, Jasper, you're so cute when you're so predictable." Alice stroked Jasper's chin. "But we have work."

Jasper's face was slightly pouted as she dragged him upstairs.

I then realized that I was alone, Rosalie and Emmett must have gone off to do…something.

_Bella Swan, Isabella Swan. Scottsdale, Arizona. Jasper, come on, please find her._

Alice had Jasper on the web, searching. So that was her name, Bella. So fitting, she was beautiful, or by at least what I had seen in Alice's vision. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but this rose was a beauty by the name of a beauty. I was starting to ramble within my head. I never did that.

I then decided to do some research of my own. We had a few computers in our commode; enough to find information and to tickle Emmett's online gaming fancy. He never tired of beating people, amateurs, at games we had all perfected decades ago. I settled on the couch with one of the notebooks, and started the search engine with a simple click of the button.

_Isabella Swan_, I typed skillfully, my fingers flying over the keys at inhuman speed.

I came up with four results, one of which wasn't her. That angered me, why was there so little? I growled at the computer.

The remaining three were of an English award, a middle school graduation, and a very old article about a junior ballet dance recital.

I read the first, from a newspaper from September:

_Isabella Swan, age 16, was awarded Saturday for her analysis of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream, at the town meeting. Her paper, which won the prize for most in depth essay for the Phoenix Annual Veteran's Writing Contest, delved into the mechanics of how Shakespeare utilized each character to represent a certain value. It will be read at another ceremony on Friday. Mother Renee Dwyer and stepfather Phil Dwyer contributed these words—_

The rest of the article was a shamble of opinions, none of which were Isabella's. But I had found crucial information about her form this one simple paragraph. Isabella Swan, of mother Renee and stepfather Phil Dwyer, was an intellectual woman of 16.

The middle school graduation list just consisted of her name in an alphabetical listing. I scanned it for familiarity. No Edward's, which was good. The only similar name to our family was a Rose, but that wouldn't matter. Rosalie would have to cope with it if it came up.

The last piece was amusing. It was from about ten or twelve years ago, and it simply had a picture of twelve to fifteen little dancers in tutu's and leotards, captioned underneath with names. I could see in the back row a little Bella, about 4, wearing a look on her face that expressed her utter distaste for her presence there. _Hmmm,_ I thought about that then dropped the matter.

Alice's impatient thoughts were the first to break once again, my trance.

_Edward? You had better be listening. We are all set, we're leaving the 25th, direct flight. Our names are actually regular, and our plane will be at midnight, seeing as to that's no problem for us. Jasper emailed Riley for our I.D.'s and such, and I found a good deal of information about Bella out. Cough downstairs twice if you want me to send it._

I coughed, who was she kidding? Of course I wanted to hear it.

_I heard you. Isabella Swan lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is 16 years old, birthday September 13th. Her parents are Renee Swan Dwyer and Charlie Swan, who have been divorced since she was a baby. They were married and had her at 19, and divorced soon after. Bella went to Phoenix with Renee, while Charlie lives in Forks, right near us. You actually know him, he's chief of police._

Charlie Swan? Her father? That made a little sense, from what I had seen of Charlie they looked slightly alike.

Alice continued.

_She attends Phoenix High, as a sophomore now. She's very smart, but not that social. She loves to read, draw, and write poetry. She's very selfless, she saved a kitten from a tree once, then fell out of the tree. Oh, and she has a tendency to fall._

How did she know all this?

I ran up the stairs, confused by Alice's immense knowledge, and stood in front of Jasper's door, hoping they weren't done searching and onto something "else".

"Edward you can come in." I opened the door to find them sitting at Jasper's computer, Alice naturally in his lap.

"Alice, how did you find all this? I searched downstairs and couldn't find a thing."

_You just need to know where to look. Jasper and I heard you growling at the computer. It was pretty funny. Jasper found school records and all._

"Oh."

_He even found her email address. I want to email her._

I lowered my lip and growled.

Alice had bought our tickets and after some difficulty with Riley (Jasper's current forging source), we were ready to go.

Emmett was thrilled at our immediate plans, and Carlisle and Esme, once they got home and were explained to about the reasoning behind the plans, were in too.

That night I lay in my couch, going over what had evolved today. Isabella Swan. Hmmm… I had never looked at someone the way I saw myself looking at her in Alice's vision. That was new. I liked it though, I didn't know why, but I liked it.

Alice's visions once again flooded my head, this one new.

_A girl, Isabella, sitting on a bed and reading a letter wrapped around a rose. A red rose. Love. She loved something, most likely me. Then the vision flickered to one of her twirling in the rain, in a white nightgown. She looked amazing, almost like a princess. Her hair swirled around her head and she smiled._

_**I couldn't wait for Halloween.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE!!!!**

**fyi the more reviews I get this time, the faster I'll update, kay?**

Chapter Two

We boarded the plane, and as usual, all eyes and thought reflected the great amazement at our group.

To the people of the airport, we appeared a group of college kids off for a trip. But in reality, we were carrying out a destiny.

Our plane was of great size, and we had bought out the first class sections so as not to attract wandering eyes. I personally didn't mind the stares as much, mainly the thoughts, but I believe Alice was caught in all the excitement so as to execute her plan most extravagantly and elaborately.

The airplane took off and we were increasing our altitude.

_Edward?_

I cocked my head ever so slightly towards Alice to indicate I was listening.

_There something that I haven't told you. Bella, well, she's going through a rough patch. She might be a little emotionally unstable._

I looked straight at her with black eyes. She understood and complied.

_Bella was sitting on a bed, most likely hers, and crying. She just kept murmuring, "Lynne's gone, its over." It went to a party, where I pulled her out of an overly dressed group as Audrey Hepburn. She glanced across the room and was given a death stare by one blonde girl._

My eyes softened as I watched this. I could see her life going to pieces before my eyes.

But there was more.

_Bella sat down in front of a TV and put in a video. On the screen played a homemade movie, one of two little girls running around, eating ice cream, and walking hand in hand. She laughed through sobs at it. At the end of the video, there was a picture of the two little girls smiling largely and the image then faded._

What a great smile. I planned to make her smile, for it was a smile of an angel.

The flight was monotonous; I spent the time thinking about planning for Phoenix. I already had fallen for this…this _girl_, and I had never even met her. She had never met **me**. It seemed like a match never meant to be, but I was willing to try. I HAD to try. For me, as I had never felt this way before, but also for Bella, her life seemed so distraught compared to what she was in Alice's vision.

The flight. It also was direct and short. We landed around four o'clock in the morning. It was dark outside, naturally, and not too many people were around. We made our way through baggage and car rentals easily, without any disturbance, and then we drove straight out, and as expected, everyone silently agreed to have me drive, seeing I was the loner of the group.

I took this empty time of driving to delve into the thoughts of my family.

_This is going to be good. _Emmett's shallow mind was revolving around the havoc he would wreck.

_I really hope we can find this girl soon. Alice can't focus. Wow, that plane was nauseating. The stewardess kept leaning in to offer me something to drink. If it weren't for Alice and Edward…, she'd be blood on the floor by now._

_Poor Jasper. That plane ride was nearly impossible for him. And the nerve of that plane attendant! He IS NOT interested! Edward, how's he doing now?_

Alice always knew the times when I was concentrating on her thoughts. Our game. I scratched my head again as to give her a response.

_Yes you know. I know you know. He's thinking about how hard it was isn't he? It's not my gift, but I can feel his pain. It's hard for him Edward, I know it is. _

Her mind flickered. She was attempting to see if she could see his future.

_He's going to be fine._

Good. Jasper's thirst was greater than any of ours, and he had less control over it. It was one of the few things that scared me. Not his control over his thirst, but how much it plagued Alice. Alice was the best friend I had, being almost as if she were my biological sister.

Our house was not too far from the Phoenix airport, in outer Scottsdale, and at my speed, it wouldn't take long. We arrived soon, and our things were carried inside with great ease. Nothing of worldly mass was anything to test our strength. Anything at all.

I had only packed a few weekend things. In truth, Alice had packed me a few weekend things. She had taken over my wardrobe entirely, buying new things and getting rid of old. It didn't matter to me, though. I had no preference in what I wore, I just wore what she found fit for me.

I packed away my few things and settled in my room. I had the only single, seeing I WAS the only single. About now the sun was rising, and it danced playfully on the walls. I looked around; it had been a while since I had been in a sunny place. I stepped into the path of the window light and let the rays bounce off my skin. They glimmered like diamonds as I lit up with the sparkle indicative to my species. I was a vampire, which was the plain truth. And there was no way around it.

My throat hungered for the one nourishment that I couldn't have: human blood. It had been about 80 years since I last had this one "sweet". I lived off animals, but that never fully satisfied that hunger, that **_thirst_**. I could survive in the lifestyle I lead, but I would **_thrive_** in the other choice. But Carlisle, Esme, all my family looked up to me for keeping constant to my morals. I could never let them down and change it, even if the circumstances were more drastic. Never.

I had ample time now; nothing was planned, well, except later on tomorrow we were to go to a football game. It was comical how humans found such imbecilic players magnificent. Emmett and I could beat all the professional teams alone without even "breaking a sweat". This was actually Emmett and not Alice's idea, he wanted a laugh. We all complied, but Alice seemed especially giddy about it all.

I decided to take a walk to pass the time. No, a drive, we were in sunny Phoenix. I drove down a boulevard and past a park. It was all unimportant to me. I only had Isabella and meeting her on my mind. I drove further into Scottsdale and I was caught by surprise by the vision I saw before me. It was Bella, so real, unlike the visions, and she was standing in the middle of the street, face to the sky, letting it bask her cheeks, red with warm. That deep-pent hunger inside me roared. She smelled **_amazing_**. Not just good, but better than anything I had ever smelled. Like chocolate cake to a dieter. No worse than that. Like heroine to a recovering addict. Or cognac to an alcoholic. She smelled so delectable that my mind was starting to get ahead of me. I saw myself; I could easily run her over and steal her away. Or fishtail the car and pull her in. Those would take no strength whatsoever. It was when I looked in the car mirror for a clear path did I realize the monster I was. The veins in my face, what was left of them, were pounding at the skin covering them. My eyes, golden by nature, were glinting with horror and evil. I was no longer what I was. I needed to leave, go far away. Go back home. Why had I ever come? But that smell. Just one bite, which would be all it took. Just one taste to satisfy that thirst that lingered so deep inside me.

Isabella saved herself. She grumbled, for reasons I could not know, and trudged up to the house across the street and knocked on the door. A blonde, thin and tall, answered. Her facial expression was friendly, but her thoughts were not.

_Why do our mothers push us together? I am **so** over you, can't you see that? We WERE friends, but honey, not anymore. Go away. I hate you._

That had to be Lynne. The visions didn't lie that Bella was distraught. I looked over to her to hear the angel's voice in this matter. I got nothing. I tried again, harder. Nothing. This was too much. This Bella was too much. So mysterious, yet I knew so much. It spellbinded me.

I sat outside that window that night, watching Bella and her "friend". "Lynne", as I am pretty sure her name was, was on her computer most of the time, while Bella slept. She looked so peaceful while she slept, like an angel. They then went downstairs and made an orange mess, and ate cookie dough. My mouth watered, as I smelt her, as she ate her sweet, I craved mine. I had to go hunting. I quickly sprinted off to the nearest wood, fairly far, and drained whatever I could find, not even paying attention to what it was. When I returned to that house, Lynne was typing again, and Bella was sleeping. As I looked at her exquisite face, I noticed something. She was crying. In her sleep. Did her dreams sadden her? I once again tried to tap into her mind. Nothing. I had never met a human I could not entirely predict in my…my existence. Why did this singular human stir up so much in me? Feelings, thirsts, question, things I had never felt this strong before.

I watched Bella all night. She started mumbling and talking halfway into the night, after Lynne had also fallen asleep.

"Prince Charming…."

Prince Charming? Now more than ever I wished that I could hear what she was thinking. I had to unravel this mystery before me. She WAS a mystery. I haven't encountered anything that baffled me since my true youth.

I drove home slowly, around 70mph, pondering slowly the conundrum I was faced with.

When I entered the house, I was met with thoughts of confusion and concern.

_Edward what's wrong?_

_I saw it Edward. I can't explain it either._

_I'm worried; he looks even paler if it's possible._

_Edward? Edward what happened?_

They all mirrored concern and question except one:

_Edward, she needs you, you can't turn back now._

From the most unlikely of people: Rosalie.

She continued.

_She's utterly contemptible, I mean, she's **human**, but I can understand her life. She's distraught, no friends. She can't deal with her life. I have no idea why you yearn particularly for her blood, or can't read her thoughts, but you can't let that get into your way. She **needs** you._

Rosalie was unpredictable. One day she hated me, the next she was giving me advice. How did she know about this? She saw it in the eyes of so many girls everyday. Her beauty, as much as she loved having it, gave a deep blow to each of them whenever they saw her. Her face was hard as well as her soul, but she saw the hurt in each girl's eyes.

"Thank you all. I'm fine now." I looked directly at Rosalie, and with a taciturn nod, I walked upstairs.

Music saved me. I played it as loud as possible, some more modern bearable rock tunes. I drifted off to "sleep", or whatever was the closest I could be to it. Damn immortality, it meant I lost that one time where there were no worries. One time I dared to try taking cold medicines and sleep draughts, but nothing worked. I found the closest I could get was thoughtless lying, but the thoughts never were absent. I couldn't shun then, they came naturally.

I lay like this for such a long time; I could have drifted through the next few days. After a while I almost forgot I wasn't human. Morning came, and the sun opened on the house, shining in through the windows. My skin glimmered in the sunlight, and I was reminded of the monster I was.

The monster I have been. The monster I will be.

I collapsed into the internal whirlwind of emotions I was feeling. Depression, mystery, confusion, love. Love? Why did I include that? Nothing made sense anymore. I was questioning myself; I no longer knew the answers. This had never happened before. I never had to second guess myself. Now I did.

The rest of the family was out hunting, which would have been a happy distraction for me if they had decided to include me.

_I was the outsider._

_I was alone._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I pondered these last thoughts for a long time. It could have been months, day, or years even. Time held no mark on me anymore. We had infinite years, countless days, and unending hours. Timed passed, but very slowly. You cannot imagine how boring my existence is to be me.

Bella, her name rolled off my tongue like the sweet melody of a small harp. Her name means beauty, but her face shows that believes that she is not.

But I was the outsider from my family, I was alone. If given the chance or ability, I'm sure that each would die for me, as I would them, but they were first bonded to each other. My bonds with my family were those of exactly that, a family, while each couple was bonded family-wise and as they were in a loving relationship. Twice as strong of bond.

_**EDWARD WE'RE HOME!!!!**_

They had arrived. Their thoughts mirrored the hunt and the "events" that occurred afterwards. This was indeed the time I felt loneliest. I checked the clock on a great wood chest, it was 2:30. The game had started, and we could set out then.

_Edward, can you go upstairs and change? You look fine enough, it's just your hair is mussed and your shirt's all crumpled. What have you been doing?_

I laughed at Alice's "big sister" attitude. She could get bossy, but we were definitely the closest of the non-romantically involved siblings.

Upstairs my room was very much separated from everyone else's. It held little of my music, just what I had brought on the plane. On my couch, replacing a bed, there were clothes arranged, surely Alice's doing. She had placed a simple sweater and jeans over the red leather of the couch and shoes underneath it.

Almost immediately after I had switched my clothes, Alice was in my room.

"So, are you excited, seeing her and all?"

"Alice, I'm scared more than anything. She's such a puzzle, a mystery if you will. I can't explain how she works, how to get along with her, anything."

"When in the history of love has a man been fully able to understand a woman when he's never met her?"

"Other than the fact I don't love her, you've got a point there. But you and Jasper understand each other so well, even before you met."

"We've had our moments, Edward, we're not perfect." Her enormous black eyes were orbs, seeing my sorrow and feeling my pain, as if she had her husband's "talent".

"It's so weird, I've never really confided this much in you."

"It's nice. I like being able to act as if we're really human brother and sister—"

"—though we can never be. I know."

Alice stepped up and gave me a pat on the back, "Get ready, primp yourself. You've got a night ahead of you."

She was too happy. "Alice, what did you see?" I raised one eyebrow in suspicion.

"Just don't worry, you're fine now, just keep your temper and you'll be fine later." She flitted out of the room and off to probably get her and Jasper ready.

I took one more look at my room, and started downstairs.

On the last couple steps I looked down at my feet, thinking.

I stepped onto the second to last step, _I was seeing Bella again._

Last step _I had to keep my cool, or I'd lose any chance I had with her._

Ground floor, _I had to keep my cool._

I lifted my eyes from my feet and stared into the eyes of 6 rather aghast-faced vampires.

_He's moving so slow._

_Wow. I've never seen him like this._

_He's confused, he's in love and he's confused._

I didn't mind their comments, but in love?

I didn't know about that.

Yet.

Could I?

That was the question that faced me more often than ever now.

**Could I** be in love?

**Could I **fight the thirst for her blood?

**Could I** for the first time in about 80 years, truly live?

It was time to set out to face or fight destiny.

**sry for the short chapter, but hey, its better than no chapter for a while!**


	4. Chapter 4

Okay guys, the "dreaded" authors note.

I have to take some time away from these projects to work on my screenplays (yes I write screenplays), because I have a deadline soon. So, expect another chapter not so soon, as soon as I can. PM me directly for sneak peeks, those I can give. Or if anyone would like tidbits from my screenplays, titled "Learning to Lean" (a middle school dramedy) and 9 months (a romance NON pregnancy story)

but thanks for understanding!

rosy.lee.


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